Malinda Gayle McCready, 30 November 1975, Fort Meyers, Florida, USA. McCready emerged as one of the brightest new voices in country music in the late 90s, updating the traditional values of the genre for a new generation of listeners. Raised in southern Florida, she moved to Nashville when she was 18. Meeting up with producer David Malloy, she spent almost a year performing
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4 December 1981, Steilacoom, Washington, DC, USA. Country singer Lila McCann began her recording career at the age of 15, releasing an acclaimed self-titled debut album while vowing to continue her academic commitments. Her musical apprenticeship came as a guest singer at local dances with her fathers group, the Southlanders, from the age of four onwards. She had been
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24 April 1979, Salyersville, Kentucky, USA. Country singer-songwriter Howard has always been musical, singing since she was a toddler and teaching herself the piano. She sang in school and church, and toured with the Kentucky Opry Variety Show. She begged her mother to take her to the mecca for country singers, Nashville, a trip which she later recounted in a track on her 20
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30 January 1972, Austinburg, Ohio, USA. This country singer was raised in rural Ohio, growing up in a music-loving, church-going family. Cochran began singing as a child with her two elder brothers, with the trio giving impromptu concerts for their parents. She later recalled her childhood and her brothers, who both succumbed to cystic fibrosis at an early age, on the song &
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A Highway 101 for the new millennium, US country rock band Trick Pony was formed in 1996 by Heidi Newfield (4 October 1970, Healdsburg, California, USA; vocals), Keith Burns (b. 16 November, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; guitar, vocals), and Ira Dean (b. 23 August, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; bass, vocals). Burns and Dean were both session musicians wanting to record their own mu
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Charleston, Western Virginia, USA. Country singer-songwriter Proctor spent most of the 90s working behind the scenes in Nashville before finally being given the chance to launch her own recording career in 2004. Proctor grew up in Charleston and participated in pop talent shows as a youngster, but by her late teens had begun to graduate towards country music. She began writi
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5 February 1971, New Franklin, Missouri, USA. Country singer Evans got her start in music by singing with her impoverished rural family from the age of four. In 1992 she married and moved to Oregon, working alongside a band entitled North Santiam. They opened shows for artists including Tim McGraw and Willie Nelson. However, Evans elected to launch a solo career instead, rel
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25 August 1970, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA. Singer-songwriter Jo Dee Messina began her career as a teenager playing in local country bands around New England. By the age of 19 she had decamped to Nashville, where she struggled on the local talent show circuit. Eventually producer James Stroud at Curb Records took a chance on her. She finally announced herself with the US
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Martina Mariea Schiff, 29 July 1966, Sharon, Kansas, USA. One of the leaders in contemporary country music, McBride has also won converts within more puritanical country factions for the respect she affords the roots of the music. She and her husband sold T-shirts at Garth Brooks concerts before McBride graduated to becoming his opening act. The Time Has Come, her 1992 debut
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